Chapter 642: Bottomless Pit

[Due to Annihilation Heaven’s generosity, you have absorbed a sufficient amount of Ancient Evil Origin Power.]

[Your Attack Power has broken through the limits of the Nirvana realm and entered a whole new tier. The power that was once suppressed has been unleashed, causing your Attack Power to rise dramatically. It is no longer bound by the 9,999-point cap of the Nirvana rank and has now entered a new, limitless domain.]

[Attack Power: 13,721]

[Defense Power: 14,211]

[Endurance: 14,811]

[Stamina: 9,999]

[Spiritual Power: 37,614,912]

As the saying goes, let your enemy be your supplier!

Thanks to Annihilation Heaven’s unstinting generosity, Shi Ming had finally broken through the threshold for the fourth of his five core stats: Attack Power.

His [Spiritual Power], thanks to the boon of the Eye of the Divine, was already beyond its threshold, leading the pack with a value of over thirty-seven million. His [Endurance] had broken through after he devoured the power of the Flower of Wicked Thoughts. Similarly, his [Defense Power] was enhanced after he consumed the entirety of Three Paths Heaven.

Now, with Annihilation Heaven’s help, he had also broken through his [Attack Power].

Of his five core stats, only [Stamina] had yet to break its threshold.

The last piece of the puzzle lay with Paradise Heaven.

If he could just devour Paradise Heaven’s Origin Power—or even just a part of it—he could shatter the five restrictions of the Nirvana realm and ascend to an even greater state. The only problem was that “Original Sin Heaven,” his current disguise, and Paradise Heaven were natural-born enemies. It would be nearly impossible to trick her out of her Origin Power using the same method. Besides, Paradise Heaven was unlikely to be as generous as Annihilation Heaven.

To obtain that final piece of the puzzle, there was likely only one way.

A simple and brutal method.

Kill!

Shi Ming extended a sliver of his consciousness, probing the Star Spirit Race’s ancestral land.

Paradise Heaven had left the Sinful Dream Realm long ago.

To maintain his cover, Shi Ming hadn’t paid much attention to Paradise Heaven, so he didn’t know where she had gone. However, based on her personality and instincts, it wasn’t hard to guess: she had almost certainly gone to a nearby civilized Star Domain in search of new pleasures.

However, from another perspective, this was an opportunity.

With the two Ancient Evils separated, Annihilation Heaven alone posed a much smaller threat to Shi Ming, making it easier to divide and conquer them. No matter how powerful an Ancient Evil was or how perfect its evolution, its strength would be greatly diminished without an ally. For Shi Ming, this was an opportunity, and he had always been able to keenly perceive every chance and seize it without fail.

His eyes glinted.

He continued siphoning the gift from Annihilation Heaven while simultaneously planning his next move.

‘It’s time to give him a surprise.’

‘But before that, I’d better take one last big haul. Opportunities like this don’t come often. It’s just like going to a buffet in my past life—right before time’s up, you have to go for one last, massive plate!’

The long-dormant Right Arm Red Pattern on Shi Ming’s arm began to burn.

It began to gather power,

faintly opening its “gaping, bloody maw.”

If the previous transfer of power was a natural siphoning phase led by Annihilation Heaven, then what came next would be the devouring phase, with Shi Ming taking the initiative!

The beast lying in wait began to bare its fangs.

…

…

…

‘The final 0.001%…’

This wasn’t the first time Annihilation Heaven had transferred power to another Ancient Evil that hadn’t fully revived.

Just as Amonev had explained to Shi Ming, the previous generation of the four great Ancient Evils each had their own preferred forms: an old man, a skeleton, a mass of black ooze, an androgynous beauty… But their revival after death was a process similar to a plant sprouting anew, breaking through the soil from a backup of its origin.

Thorns and roses;

A pitch-black, twin-stalked bone blossom;

A forbidden lotus;

A poppy with a beautiful face…

These were all symbols of initial rebirth, of a seed reviving to become a new individual. Thus, transferring power to an unrevived Ancient Evil was a process of “irrigating” it with one’s own source blood and origin. Long ago, in the Sea of Chaos, Annihilation Heaven had used this very method to help a still-evolving Paradise Heaven complete her final transformation.

That process had taken a great deal more time.

However, Paradise Heaven’s condition back then was far worse than that of the current “Original Sin Heaven,” and the Sea of Chaos was an incredibly barren place, so it naturally took longer. As the first Ancient Evil to revive, and one who wished to subtly control the others, Annihilation Heaven naturally had to make sacrifices.

But now, the Original Sin Heaven that Shi Ming was impersonating was in far better condition than Paradise Heaven had been.

According to Annihilation Heaven’s estimates, the final Ancient Evil would surely revive in as little as six months, or three years at most.

‘The grand design is within reach.’

Even with his temperament, he couldn’t help but feel his bloodlust boil. To provide this final push, he was completely unstinting with his Origin Power. From the center of the black lotus, he snapped off one stamen after another, generously watering the thorns before him with his source blood.

But gradually, he realized something was wrong.

It was as if he were trapped in a looping game, like Achilles forever unable to catch the tortoise. No matter how much he gave, he couldn’t help the other party break through its final bottleneck. His counterpart, meanwhile, was more like an insatiable Black Hole. Any power he offered, no matter how much, was instantly and ferociously devoured the moment it touched the spreading thorns. It refused nothing!

‘If that were all, it wouldn’t be a problem.’

‘It would simply mean this Original Sin Heaven’s foundation was rather unstable and needed constant reinforcement.’

But what truly surprised Annihilation Heaven was that, starting about a day ago, the other party had slowly seized the initiative in this power transfer. It had gone from passively absorbing to actively demanding, taking an inch and then a mile! At first, Annihilation Heaven thought it was just instinctual behavior before a breakthrough, but now, it was clear this was a greedy offensive, a transgression that blurred the line between master and subordinate!

Hmph!

‘Insolence!’

‘I tolerate you only because you are my kin and are of use to me.’

‘It does not mean you can overstep your bounds indefinitely.’

Such audacity had already stirred his killing intent. Just as he prepared to forcibly terminate this one-way support and teach his presumptuous subordinate a lesson, he received a spiritual message out of the ether. This communication used the bloodline of the Ancient Evils as its medium, and only an Ancient Evil could decipher it—

[He is a fake…]

[He… killed the Flower of Wicked Thoughts.]

[I am sealed.]

[Save me.]

…

…

…

???

Annihilation Heaven, who had already sensed something was amiss, finally broke free from the cognitive trap of asymmetrical information. In an instant, every inconsistency clicked into place!

‘I’ve been played!’

‘Played by an impostor!’

‘When in the entire history of the Ancient Evils has something like this ever happened?’

‘Humiliation!’

‘An unprecedented humiliation!’

In an instant, a scarlet sigil ignited upon Annihilation Heaven’s forehead. His rage and killing intent became so palpable they condensed into liquid form, threatening to drip to the ground.

The floating bubbles throughout the Star Spirit Race’s ancestral land all took on a blood-red sheen!